The Topsy Turvy Upside Down Tomato Planter,
a gadget offered on eBay and Amazon,
available at Walmart, Best Buy, and Lowe's,  
also "Seen On TV" —
promises bigger and better tomatoes,
an earlier crop, avoids the backbreaking work
of growing them right-side-up.
Cutworms and ground fungus won't appear
when you grow upside-down tomatoes.
 
Satisfied buyers praise upside-down planting
for growing splendid tomatoes in limited spaces —  
unshaded places and sun-drenched porches  
perfect to nurture upside-down tomatoes.
Raised in the conventional way,
tomatoes need staking to keep stems from breaking,
a condition that arises from weight.  
Cherry tomatoes diminish problems, do well enough
grown right-side-up.

There's a drawback to raising inverted tomatoes.  
Plants signal distress, struggle upward,
stems make U-turns, reach for the sky —
roots crawl out of the pot,
stretch toward the earth, pursue a downward direction.
Efforts to change them.........          
like trying to train willful children.


© by Patricia Williams.
Used with the author's permission.